AlgaeFix Marine to control Hair Algae

[CoralBeautyII]

Originally Posted by bertoni

ChemiPure Elite has some GFO in it. GFO can be run in a reactor or a small filter, just the way carbon is run, although the flow might need to be a bit lower.

The hob filter i have now is low flow, mainly because the algae is blocking the intake lol
So will this work?
http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_...FMCHPR-vi.html

[bertoni]

That product likely is okay, although I haven't used it, personally.

[CoralBeautyII]

Originally Posted by bertoni

That product likely is okay, although I haven't used it, personally.

Anything that you would recommend? (that i can add to the hob filter)

[bertoni]

I have used PhosBan and Phosphate Killer, and both seemed fine to me, although the tank didn't have much of a phosphate problem. I ran GFO mostly as a safety net.

[koala]

Hello to all,

- First dose: December 24
- Second dose: December 26
- Third dose: December 28

Since the 4th dose, I'll be an interval of three days between 2 treatments.

My tank: few fish, 1 starfish Protoreaster linckii, some shrimps, 1 green bubble Entacmaea Quadricolor, 1 crab Percnon Gibbesi, some Kenya tree and some Sarcophiton...
- skimmer ON,
- no GAC,
- no GFO

No problem!




Before the first dose


After the 3rd dose

[hypnoj]

nice results. nice tank

[fishresponse]

What dose did you use to get your results?

[koala]

I used 16 ml (1 tablespoon) - per dose -> to a 144 gal system.

[Maximus]

Has anyone had any problems with Algaefix killing acropora or any other sps coral?

[CoralBeautyII]

Well im done, im gonna tear down the tank and put my turtle in it.
Algae is out of control, algaefix is doing nothing but killing inverts.
Massive water changes, pulling it out, adding phoszorb stuff...im still plagued.
Its more trouble than its worth. Ive had reef tanks for years, never seen anything like this.
My question is what about the inhabitants? what do i do with them? the rock is garbage, corals i guess i can throw away too? since no one will take them covered in hair algae. I have one fish, a sixline wrasse, several hermits and snails, my brittle stars are paralyzed by the algaefix.
Im done and tired

[morty]

Originally Posted by CoralBeautyII

Well im done, im gonna tear down the tank and put my turtle in it.
Algae is out of control, algaefix is doing nothing but killing inverts.
Massive water changes, pulling it out, adding phoszorb stuff...im still plagued.
Its more trouble than its worth. Ive had reef tanks for years, never seen anything like this.
My question is what about the inhabitants? what do i do with them? the rock is garbage, corals i guess i can throw away too? since no one will take them covered in hair algae. I have one fish, a sixline wrasse, several hermits and snails, my brittle stars are paralyzed by the algaefix.
Im done and tired

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I've been close to that stage more than once myself. Although phosphate and it's origins are usually good places to initially address, it can be a mystery as to why algae can continue to thrive after presumably getting phosphate under control.

You will probably still be able to find someone to take corals even if covered with algae, because after plucking off as much as you can, when placed in a system that has algae under control, what's left behind on the coral will likely go away.

The live rock also has some value. Placing it in a plastic garbage can, filling it with fresh water and some bleach, and soaking it for a week or so will effectively sterilize it and turn any organics to mush. It can then be easily cleaned up with a strong jet of water, or better yet place it in a driveway and hit it with a pressure washer. After it dries, it can then be sold as dry rock. (Any purchaser may want to cook it with several cycles of lanthanum chloride dosing, however.)

[koala]

After dose #5, algae have gone ~ 95% percent.


============

Another view (my background):

Before treatment begins:


After 5 doses:


============

[CoralBeautyII]

Looks good, wish it worked for me

tank is getting torn down this weekend and im going back to easy care freshwater fish
been reefing for over 10 yrs, never had anything like this happen..im getting too old for such work lol

[aranax]

Can you guys please take a picture of YOUR bottle of AlgaeFix? I know this is probably a dumb question but I want to confirm if success stories are using the "marine" version (assuming so) and see if the failure stories were using the "non-marine" version by mistake.

I'm about to try this on my tank and want to see what bottle, version, etc. the people that have been having success are using. Thanks.

[koala]

Yes, I used the "marine" version.

[CoralBeautyII]

I used the marine version as well, its right in front of me...says "Marine"

It did seem to work in the beginning and with me pulling it out, but then it came back with a vengeance and its been out of control ever since
so its a temporary fix
my tank is also well over a year old, people may have better luck with newer setups
either way my end results is that it does not work and my tank is going to be torn down
I can get a pic if needed since the bottle is right in front of me on my desk

[DrexelLake]

Originally Posted by CoralBeautyII

I used the marine version as well, its right in front of me...says "Marine"

It did seem to work in the beginning and with me pulling it out, but then it came back with a vengeance and its been out of control ever since
so its a temporary fix
my tank is also well over a year old, people may have better luck with newer setups
either way my end results is that it does not work and my tank is going to be torn down
I can get a pic if needed since the bottle is right in front of me on my desk

I seriously doubt the Algaefix Marine is causing your problem.

[CoralBeautyII]

Never said it was causing it. Just said it did nothing to help. Some have redults some dont..thats just how it is

[DrexelLake]

Originally Posted by CoralBeautyII

Never said it was causing it. Just said it did nothing to help. Some have redults some dont..thats just how it is

My bad. I mistook your comment about Algaefix killing your inverts.

[ostrow]

Well, been over a month.

My algae has been an accelerating plague for a year, with the acceleration accelerating. No other methods helped. Water parameters all perfect.

Started algaefix and within three weeks all micro and macro algae in fuge and sump dead, display marginally better.

Then, in display only, the algae (similar to Koala's above), went a deep, deep green and is really spreading. All over corals, etc. doubled then tripled dosage. Algae growth increased.

Likely headed to rock/coral/sand removal. Neil start separate thread seeking guidance.

[reev]

ostrow & others, hang in there!

I followed this thread a few years back. I might have posted once or twice to it when I tried algaefix for my GHA problem. It didn't help. It made the things worse. Lost my chaeto & rendered my refugium useless, while the GHA just kept growing.

I battled GHA for over 2 years. I bleached a new set of rocks, cured them, swapped most of the old ones out. I kept pulling GHA out. Tried different algae eater fish, inverts, even sea hares. For a while tried GFO, but it was too much mess and maintenance for me. My phosphates test kit always showed very low levels, nitrates were 0 as well. I guess the GHA was consuming them fast enough.

Well, today, my tank is algae free. What seens to have worked for me in the end, was to let the tank run out of nutrients:
- I kept running the skimmer aggressively
- I used only bio-pellets and not GFO since the bio-pellets were low maintenance and fit my busy schedule.
- I re-populated my refugium with some chaeto & a couple of mangroves. In time the GHA started mixing in between them, I did regular trimmings, but I let the GHA live there.
- I used a normal/minimal CUC, maybe 20-30 hermits and around 10 snails (most throcus, my favorites). My tank is 125G.
- I reduced the number of fish, gave away my medium to large tangs, my foxface, I kept only 3 fish that kids got attached to, and a few smaller ones, about 6-8 in total. I fed them once a day a small amount they could finish in 10-20 seconds.
- I kept pulling GHA out of the rocks, used a toothbrush to clean the rocks, threw out some compromised rocks & even some birdsnests that got covered all up in algae.
- I let the tank settled for over 1 year, no new fish, no new corals, no changes other that some minor landscaping from time to time, pulling out GHA and doing water changes when time permitted. When doing water changes, I used a small powerhead to blow the dust and dirt from between the rocks and hidden places. I made sure to use only good RO water, I used the same salt (Reef Crystals), really trying not to change anything in the tank's parameters.

One day, I suddenly noticed that the GHA doesn't grow anymore on rocks that used to be almost fully covered. And from there it was easy . It kept regressing until one day I could not find any in my DT. I still have some mixed with the chaeto and the mangrove roots in my fuge, but even there it seems to be slowly regressing.

This is my tank today, fish and corals are happy, while the algae is gone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrFa0BKqg24

So there is hope. I was in the same place, almost ready to throw the towel in. Things will get better, just takes a lot of patience & stability. See what works for you and stick with it.

[koala]

Another tank, this time of a friend of mine.

Before treatment:




After just 3 doses:

[cagey]

I did my fist dose today. Came to read any reviews and was happy to see that this product works the majority of the time.

I'll send some pics asap.

[cagey]

I stopped the charcoal reactors. Is the general thinking to shut down GFO reactors also?

[bertoni]

I'd leave the GFO going for the time being, to help remove any phosphate released by dying algae.